The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : All set for cloud-seeding exercise

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 21, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

All set for cloud-seeding exercise

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, JULY 20. The stage is set for the 105-day `Meghamadanam,' a cloud-seeding operation, taken up by the State Government. On Wednesday afternoon, a Cessna 340 aircraft, fitted with flare racks containing silver iodide, will take off on its first aerial cloud-seeding sortie in the State this year.

The Ministers -- N. Raghuveera Reddy (Agriculture) and M. Mareppa (Lift Irrigation and Rain Shadow Areas) -- on Tuesday evening inspected the aircraft at the old airport here. The Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, will flag off the aircraft on its maiden leg to seed any cloud over Ranga Reddy, Nalgonda and Mahabubnagar districts.

While one aircraft will use Hyderabad as a base and cover the three districts, another will use Puttaparthi and Bangalore airports to cover the whole of Rayalaseema region. Everything is ready, including the radar station at Nandyal which will coordinate the flights of both the aircraft, according to the Secretary, Rain Shadow Areas, M.G. Gopal.Apart from control rooms in each of the operational districts, a Central Control Room has been set up at Secretariat. "What we are doing now will cost us about Rs. 10 crores. Lack of rain in the State has resulted in a loss of about Rs. 10,000 crores every year for the past four years. We hope and pray our exercise will bring rain," Mr. Gopal said.

About the success rate of cloud-seeding, Mr. Gopal said they were expecting 20 to 30 per cent result. The exercise, he said, was a regular feature in China and the United States. In these countries the exercise was funded by insurance companies.

Capt. Arvind Sharma of Agni Aviation said the Cessna 340 had a pressurised cabin and could go up to 29,000 feet above the ground. This meant that it could cover both warm clouds, found at 18,000 feet above ground and cold clouds.

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Andhra Pradesh